Arkansas - UNC - Inquiries into Buy and Dry_May2008

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The value of the "missing piece" form of transfer may be considerably greater with the already- availableforms, and it is probable that the suite of all three forms may be much more attractive to potential users than any of the three alone. The two available now are water banking for short-term transfers and very rapid responsive transfers, and long-term rotational crop management, for "base load" municipal or industrial demand for water. The missing piece is the long-term interruptible supply contract which provides additional security and utility for those using rotational crop management. The necessity for inquiries with the last large set of missing voices -the local governments as the representatives of local communities and county and regional aggregations - is clear enough from the very long history of efforts to recognize those interests, in the form of "impact mitigation" bills. And, the difficulty of centrally-managed and defined mitigation may be well enough shown by the arguments which so far have defeated those bills. Allied additional work includes holding two focused workshop discussions with invited specialists from relevant fields and organizations, on the subjects of agronomic rotation design needs and recommendations for use with new forms of water transfer, and revegetation costs, duration, and prospects which relate to all forms of water transfer and which are part of the cost comparison for potential users of alternatives to permanent "buy-and-dry" transfers. These inquiries are intended to directly support legislative and administrative decision-making, and the development of the alternative forms of transfer as sought by the statute on a timely basis. B. Evidence that the proposed activity will not violate existing law or policy. The proposed activity includes interviewing and discussion and outreach activity which are (1) consistent with regulations governing treatment of human subjects in social science research, and will involve contact with persons and groups acting within their professional and official capacities, and (2) will be entirely voluntary and subject to any limitations on confidentiality or use which those contacted may impose. C. Explanation of the linkage, complementarity or other relationship of the activity to previous state efforts and programs, such as the provisions of Section 37-75-104(2), Colorado Revised Statutes. The efforts will build on the work from CWCB's State Water Supply Initiative (SWSI) and the subsequent work of its SWSI Technical Roundtable: Alternatives to Permanent Agriculture Dry- Up. This work is also complementary to the on-going Non-Consumptive Needs Assessment work by SWSI and CWCB and contractors, focusing on environmental and recreational interests. Relationship to the major findings of the Statewide Water Supply Initiative (SWSI): "Colorado will see a significantly greater reduction in agricultural lands as municipal and industrial water providers seek additional permanent transfers of agricultural water rights to